Obama should pardon Clarence Aaron

Question: What do you do when you know that federal officials have acted wrongly, but also that any criticism drives them so crazy that they are less likely to do the right thing? That’s the question I had to ask as I wrote today’s column.

President Obama should free Clarence Aaron

On Sunday, the Washington Post ProPublica ran this story about Department of Justice Pardon Attorney Ronald Rodgers, and his recommendation that President George W. Bush not commute the life-without-parole sentence of first-time nonviolent drug offender Clarence Aaron.

Records show that Ronald Rodgers, the current pardon attorney, left out critical information in recommending that the White House deny Aaron’s application. In a confidential note to a White House lawyer, Rodgers failed to accurately convey the views of the prosecutor and judge and did not disclose that they had advocated for Aaron’s immediate commutation.

PardonPower blogger P.S. Ruckman, the pardon authority, believes Rodgers had an obligation to inform President George W. Bush fully on the facts of the case, and that his failure to do so presents “enough to send him down the road.”

Former pardon attorney Margaret C. Love believes that President Obama should take the real recommendation of U.S. Attorney Deborah J. Rhodes and commute Aaron’s sentence to 25 years. Aaron would be released. “It appears to me that her recommendation is a reason-able, if conservative, solution.”

Julie Stewart, who started the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, called for a congressional investigation. ”The Pardon Attorney’s office is not a gatekeeper but a brick wall,” she said in a statement.

The Department of Justice, which did not return my requests for a reply.

ProPublica links to original documents on the case. I should note that federal officials take a dim view of those of us who have characterized Aaron as a low-level nonviolent drug offender. Indeed, I see my name — page 6, footnote 14 – along with PBS’ Frontline, in the pardon attorney’s 2004 recommendation to deny Aaron’s petition.

Over the last decade, I’ve tried to present the prosecution’s case in a fair light. I may not always have succeeded. I’ve written that Aaron was guilty, that he lied in court, that he made bad choices and had to face the consequences. I’ve also written that he was a small fish sentenced to longer time than anyone else in these two planned drug deals — and the other guys were bigger fish. Rhodes maintains that Aaron nonetheless had a “leadership role” in the drug chain. Like many in law enforcement, Rhodes also objects when pardon proponents describe Aaron’s first-time offense as “nonviolent” — as the drug trade is inherently violent.

But: Aaron was a student, while his codefendants dealt drugs for a living. He did not have a criminal record. His codefendants were savvy enough to plead guilty, while he was not. The federal sentencing system rewards guilty pleas and testimony against co-conspirators, while it is ruthless when defendants will not plead guilty. That’s how a young man with no record won the longest sentence in the group, while high-level offenders did not.